Chapter 99:

Ace put down his bag, and went straight to his room. It was the Monday morning, and he had just gotten back from the compound. They had a free day today for all the participants of the Tournament, so there was no need to go to school. He changed into some more comfortable clothes, and notified his grandmother that he had arrived.

He went straight to his PC room, and ensured that the new update for the game had been downloaded. Since it had, he logged in, and played a few more games, getting used to the map rework, and some of the changes to guns and operators. He dominated in them, but since they were normal games, there were no changes to his elo counter.

He stopped playing after a few games, and browsed through various social networks, catching up on all he could have missed. He also went through his email, and saw that he had been invited to participate in the Beta Test for a new game. He replied instantly, agreeing to play it during the stream and give it an honest review later. There were, of course, a few more implications within the contract, but that was the gist of it.

He researched the game later, and thought it looked promising, it was a strategy game, much like Total War. However, this one seemed to focus more on individual troops, and diplomacy. As a new aspect to it, you could even create your own race, modifying their genetical makeup so that they would gain specific attributes, which could then give units specific abilities or traits. For example, if you amplified and strengthened muscles, it would create stronger workers, and units with more stamina, however, the downside would be that the focus on physical attributes could lessen the strength of magical ones.

The whole premise seemed interesting, and from what Ace could see, it had been well designed so far. He was unsure if his audience would be interested, since it was different from what he usually played, but he would try it out nonetheless.

He ordered takeout for lunch, and ate while reading a new book about the psychological makeup of criminals. It was a brilliant read, melding psychology and criminology, resulting in a well-thought-out and interesting book.

He spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing, before going to bed slightly later than usual, intent on finishing the book.

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"So, when will the results be out?" Ace asked Leilah

"They should be out in a few days, we will all be called out at once, and the ranking will be made available."

"So, we will be with the other schools?", Ace asked, and Leilah, nodded, "Exactly, there will supposedly be an after-party, but that is just an excuse so that the relevant schools can boast about theirs students, and other schools can attempt to poach - not that it usually works out.", she explained.

"I see, so pretty much useless, is it okay if I don't attend?"

"Normally, I would allow it, but this is a bit specific, even the Headteacher will be there, and if we are able to accomplish our goal, we will be making history, because of that, it is important that every participant attends. I know it sucks, but trust me, if you go, the rewards you will get will be worth it."

"I hope.", Ace sighed

He made his way to his first class, and when he entered, everyone looked at him, they were all staring curiously at him, even his biology teacher was looking at him.

"Sorry I am a bit late, I had a meeting due to the Tournament."

"Um, yes of course, please sit down."

"Thank you.", Ace looked away, and went to sit in his usual seat, but then, he noticed it was occupied, a sickly looking boy was sitting in it, and when he noticed Ace, he gave him a sick smile.

"Excuse me, but I usually sit there.", Ace said, asking politely, in case he was just an unlucky bastard that was new to this class and had not been told about the current situation.

" I know.", his voice was grating, and caused a few people to wince and cringe, "They told me the Rank 1 sits there, unluckily for you, I am going to be the new Rank 1, so I have decided to sit here."

Ace observed the situation, and sighed, motioning with his hand, "You do you."

He went to sit next to another girl, who usually sat at the back as well. As he did, the teacher continued with the class, and the girl turned to face him, "Oh, uh, hello."

"Hey."

"I see you've met Rache."

"Rache?" [A/N: I hope someone gets this.]

"Yeah, he is a transfer student, he came yesterday, he is supposedly good at everything, and he was talking about how he would quickly become Rank 1."

"Ah, I see. What Rank is he now?"

"In the 20's, but he moved up fast, and after this week's tests, he will probably move up even farther."

'He got up to 20 in one day? Impressive, he either has people helping him out, or some serious connections, probably both.'

"So, what is his fixation with my seat, is it some power trip?"

"Well, on the first day, a boy warned him to not sit there, and when he found out why, he sat down with even more zeal."

"I see, do you know that boy's name?"

"Yep, he is…", she whispered the rest, as the teacher gave her a dark look. Ace took out his Noxia, and then sent the boy 10 points, and sent the girl 20. They had helped him, and so he would help them back.

He spent the rest of the class on his Noxia, watching videos on good peeking angles for various maps.

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'He is not paying attention?', Rache thought to himself, 'What a dumbass, does he not know that this will all be in the test, or is it that he is confident? Well, I'll show him confidence. My rank should go up quite a bit after the tests in a few days, so that will be my time to begin forming my faction.', he made a few notes on an interesting comment the teacher had made, and paused to think about his next moves, 'He probably sees me as a threat already, but had to act cool, he is probably scared to act out in front of a teacher as well, scaredy-cat. I can make use of this, I should also try to destroy his reputation, maybe make up a few claims here and there. What would be devastating...Abortion? No, that would be easy to disprove, even if it would be interesting to see his reaction...Hmm, I guess I will think about it some more.'

Unaware of what was happening two seats down, however, Rache was 'secretly' plotting his rise. All the while, Ace had already made a few notes down, and had ensured to memorise Rache's face and body structure, in preparation for a sketch once he got home. Alfred should be able to find things out easily enough once he got home. He just hoped that this guy would not be too much of a nuisance.

The rest of the day was spent within a world of whispers and gossip, people talking about whether Rache would be able to dethrone the King. He had apparently made quite the splash, even if Ace and his close circle were not worried in the least.

They would just have to wait until the tests came up, and then, it would just be one beatdown after the other, Amy in particular, had heard from her sister, and could not wait for Rache, a rumoured 'super-fighter', to challenge Ace to a fight. She just hoped that Rache did not piss off Ace too much before that, because otherwise, he would suffer.

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After a few hours in the drawing-room, Ace had a realistic portrait of Rache, and asked Alfred to check it out. Telling him it was of the most importance. It would be fine for now, but he would most likely try something soon, so it would be beneficial if Ace had some dirt on him. Furthermore, considering that he would be away for two weeks due to the Puzzle Tournament, it would probably be for the best if he dealt with him beforehand.

Alfred should not take very long to find something interesting out regardless, so he should be ok with the time that he had. For now, however, he put those thoughts away, and focused on completing some of the more advanced outlines he would have to give to his group of friends, in preparation for next year. Kristina had made it to the Rank 1 Homeroom last week, and should be Rank 1 in all classes in two weeks at the latest. She was working extremely hard, and having his outlines was a great help. That was good, since it would be for the better if all of the participants were in the same classes and homeroom, since it would make it easier when requesting a leave form a class, since they would only have to convince one teacher, and since Ace would be involved, it would be a piece of cake to get those requests accepted.